John Karras Senior Consultant

As a senior consultant with TIP, John works closely with business and community leaders to develop actionable strategies that generate job and business growth, while enhancing the quality of life for local citizens. John has extensive experience in the fields of economic development and urban planning. He has managed a wide range of projects including: strategies for economic development clients, economic impact studies for public and private sector clients, and business climate studies for corporate clients.
Prior to joining TIP, John founded urbanSCALE.com to empower urban planning and economic development professionals with the knowledge and tools needed to make their communities more vibrant. John is also the creator of the urbanSCALE Rating System, the first comprehensive measure of how urban a city is on a scale of 1 to 10. The urbanSCALE website has evolved into a growing online community with insights and creative thinking for urban planners, economic developers, and civic leaders.
Before entering the economic development field, John worked in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration within the New York City Department of Transportation’s Division of Planning & Sustainability. With the NYC Department of Transportation, he managed projects that improved freight mobility while balancing needs surrounding parking, deliveries, transit riders, cyclists, and pedestrians. John also worked as an urban planning/GIS specialist with AECOM.
John received his MS from the University of Texas where he studied Community and Regional Planning. John also obtained a BS from Texas State University where he studied in the Geography and Public Administration departments.
Email: john.karras@tipstrategies.com

Last fall, TIP was engaged by the Delaware Business Roundtable (DBRT), a group of more than 50 Delaware CEOs, to craft a strategic framework for pursuing a new long-term approach to economic development in the state. The final product, the Delaware Growth Agenda, was released by the DBRT in July.

TIP STRATEGIES, INC. (TIP) is a privately held Austin-based economic development consulting firm committed to providing quality solutions for public and private-sector clients. Established in 1995, the firm's primary focus is economic development strategic planning.